Note: This remote job position, Director, Initiatives is open to employees residing in the following states: AZ, CO, FL, GA, IL, IN, OH, OK, PA, TX, VA, WI 

Overview of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL): CAEL is a national, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to partnering with educators, employers, and workforce and economic developers to reimagine and create lifelong pathways that integrate learning and work for adults. CAEL helps organizations succeed by providing expertise, resources, and solutions that effectively support adult learners as they navigate on-and off-ramps between education and employment. We partner with entities across the adult learner ecosystem to help create actionable career pathways along the journey of lifelong learning and meaningful work.

CAEL is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive work environment where all employees can thrive. Rooted in our mission to eliminate systemic barriers, CAEL maintains a culture of inclusion and accountability. We prioritize fair recruitment and retention efforts, maintain a professional culture of mutual respect, and ensure our business operations align with our core values of integrity for all. CAEL is a virtual organization; all employees work remotely out of their homes.

The following functions may not be comprehensive in scope regarding work performed by an employee assigned to this position classification. Management reserves the right to add, modify, change, or rescind the work assignments of this position. Management also reserves the right to make reasonable accommodations so that a qualified employee(s) can perform the essential functions of the position.

Position Summary: The Director, Initiatives manages client projects by establishing clear priorities, managing performance, and ensuring the effective delivery of projects and services. The Director is accountable for strong execution, operational and stakeholder engagement and management, fiscal stewardship and continuous improvement of assigned project delivery, ensuring delivery achieves measurable value and advances CAEL's mission.

The Director establishes project priorities and manages resources to execute delivery for a diverse client portfolio. This complex portfolio encompasses, but is not limited to, higher education institutions, workforce and economic development entities, industry associations, employers, local and state governmental bodies, labor unions, regional multi-sector coalitions, and philanthropic foundations. The Director is responsible for executing and refining service delivery across this portfolio, customizing and adapting the implementation of CAEL's products and services to align with each client’s unique goals. 

The Director is expected to effectively and efficiently communicate and coordinate across the organization and with diverse stakeholders to deliver dynamic results for clients which may include the use of external consultants and partners. This comprehensive approach ensures scalable execution and high-quality client experience.

Essential Job Functions: 

The central responsibilities of this position are client/stakeholder and project management and delivery of products and services (60% of time), subject matter expertise and operational stewardship (40%).

Client/Stakeholder Management

• Develop, engage, maintain and manage relationships with clients and stakeholders by understanding goals, anticipating needs, and ensuring a high-quality client experience throughout the engagement lifecycle.


• Serve as the primary point of contact for assigned clients, resolving issues proactively and escalating appropriately when needed, including, facilitating communication and collaboration among clients, partners and internal teams.


• Develop simple to complex formal reports, action plans, and proposals


• Convene, collaborate and facilitate with cross-sector partners and diverse stakeholders such as workforce boards, employers, and funders.

Project Management 

• Plan, execute and successfully deliver projects and engagements, including successful delivery on a portfolio of multiple minor/major and multi-year projects.


• Develop and execute delivery strategies for products and services, including defining project scopes, objectives, and success measures.


• Managing multiple projects from inception to completion in a fast-paced environment, ensuring timely client deliverables and high attention to detail.


• Manage project scope, schedules, resources, budgets and performance, including collaborating with the Operations and Finance team to update project budgets and support invoicing, contracting, and internal budget and progress reporting.


• Monitor project quality, outcomes, and performance against established goals.

Delivery of Products and Services

• Manage competing priorities by resource allocation.


• Balance varying levels of responsibility and workloads simultaneously.


• Translating organizational goals into implementation plans, establishing roadmaps and timelines, and prioritizing initiatives based on client needs and resources.

Subject Matter Expertise

• Contribute to operational excellence and measurable impact across the portfolio.


• Manage compliance with contractual requirements, organizational policies and quality standards.


• Implement continuous improvement through lessons learned, process optimization and client feedback, including identifying opportunities to expand or renew client engagements based on evolving needs and demonstrated impact.


• Serve as an expert on education-to-employment systems, learning mobility, and workforce trends, while ensuring initiatives integrate evidence-based practices.


• Serve as an expert in federal SNAP Employment & Training (E&T) policy, including designing and implementing SNAP E&T programs, ideally within a community college or statewide workforce context.


• Develop and deliver professional presentations, authoring scholarly resources, contributing to product innovation, and enhancing client and membership value.


• Contribute to thought leadership in the form of blogs and articles and support marketing and sales strategies.


• Collaborate with colleagues to support CAEL's impact, including strengthening membership offerings and demonstrating the value of CAEL's work.

Operational Stewardship

• Oversee project budgets, contracts, revenue targets, and financial performance for projects


• Support comprehensive research projects, including survey design and distribution, data collection and analysis, conducting focus groups, and identifying relevant data sets to create summary charts and reports.


• Identify, assess and mitigate project risks while proactively resolving issues.


• Communicate with necessary parties to resolve issues


• Perform additional duties, assignments, and projects as required.

Education and Experience: 

• Bachelor’s Degree required; master’s degree preferred; however, applicable years of experience will be taken into consideration.


• Minimum of 5 years of higher education and/or workforce development experience and client management.

Skills and Knowledge

Required Skills and Knowledge:

• Project and portfolio management across multiple, varying concurrent initiatives.


• Strategic client relationship development, management and consultative partnership building.


• Strong planning, prioritization, facilitation and organizational skills.


• Excellent verbal, written and presentation communication skills.


• Ability to influence and collaborate across cross-functional teams without direct authority.


• Strong critical thinking, problem solving, and sound decision-making abilities.


• Risk assessment, issue resolution, and conflict management skills.


• Financial and budget management skills, including resource planning.


• Ability to analyze data, monitor performance and use metrics to drive decisions and quality assurance.


• Expertise in education-to-employment, career pathways, and skills-based practices.


• Knowledge of and experience with adult learners.


• Adaptability and change management in dynamic environments


• Contract administration and scope management

Preferred Experience:

• Experience administering programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Education and Training (E&T), Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA) or other social assistance programming for priority populations such as veterans and apprentices.


• Awareness of postsecondary organizations, including quality assurance concerns, and structures of institutions and systems.


• Experience with project management software such as Asana, Monday.com or Smartsheets.


• Strong experience in labor market data analysis using government sources (e.g., US Census, BLS) and real-time tools (e.g., Lightcast, Burning Glass).


• Proficiency with data visualization tools and reporting tools like Tableau or Power BI


• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Google Suite


• CRM or client management systems


• Budget tracking and reporting tools

Travel Requirements: This position will require the incumbent to travel approximately twenty-five to fifty percent (25-50%) of the time for business meetings, with some overnight travel required.  This is an annual average, and differences may exist week-to-week or month-to-month. Travel amounts are variable depending on project needs and external factors, but preferences for travel are part of staffing considerations.  The amount of travel and expectations are subject to change based on business needs and demands. 

Typical Physical & Mental Demands: Requires prolonged sitting with some bending, stooping, and stretching; eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity sufficient to operate a keyboard, telephone, and other office equipment. Requires a normal range of hearing and eyesight to record, prepare, and communicate appropriate reports. Also requires moderate to intense concentration due to complexity and/or need to meet deadlines, and flexibility to readily adapt to a changing environment.

Security is Everyone’s Responsibility: In order to protect CAEL’s personnel, affiliates, customers, assets, and mission, security is the responsibility of every employee. To maintain security, employees are required to read, understand, and follow company security policies, including but not limited to the Employee Handbook. In addition, security training is required at least annually.